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58 Minutes Of Nothing But Q&A From Existing HMA Marketing Consultants And Potential HMA Consultants.

Part One

Presented by: JS&M Sales & Marketing Inc. Hidden Marketing Assets Marketing Systems

You're going to like this recording. We had hundreds of questions come into Richard about the HMA system and about the marketing consulting business. Here is Richard the founder of the HMA system fielding some tough questions from expert marketing consultants and students from all over the world. It's 59 minutes long and is pure Q&A style. The two winners of the $500 Gift offer will be announced shortly. For more information about a systemized way to sell consulting services call 858-274-7851 or send me an e-mail to msenoff1@san.rr.com and in the subject line write "Michael Send The Pink Toaster Agreement" and I'll send you to a link with more details.

Michael: What’s the difference, and why are you any better than the other marketing consultants in training out there such as Y2 Marketing, Jay Abraham, Top Line, Quantum and any of the others.

Richard: Ken, the difference in the HMA System for any of the others out there.

Music

You’re going to hear the answer to this all important question later on in the interview, but first I want to introduce what I have here for you. We’ve got 59 minutes of nothing but questions and answers. I sent out an email to my list of some of the HMA consultants and other interested parties for questions for Richard regarding marketing and consulting and the marketing consulting business. You’ve got no fluff here. All you’ve got are questions from folks from all over the world and Richard’s straight to the point answers. I hope you enjoy this recording. Let’s get going.

Michael: All right Richard. I really appreciate you taking the time to answer all of these questions from a mix of both HMA consultants and people who have listened to some of our recordings up on my site at in the Consulting Secrets section of www.HardtoFindSeminars.com Now, here’s a question actually from one of our new consultants Louisa in the UK, and I think it’s going to be perfect for you because of your involvement with the manufacturing sector, but here it is.

“What are the main points to bear in mind when working with manufacturing companies? Manufacturing in the UK is under considerable threat from cheaper imports from Asia. One manufacturer I know of has a USP based around higher level of quality of components in finished products manufactured in the UK, but now increasingly the customers, i.e.; large chains of do it yourself retail stores, are buying solely on price. They have already lost a couple of key contacts due to the cheaper imports, and they are also excluded contractually from selling direct to the public. How would you help them in this situation?”

Richard: I’ve had a chance to work with manufacturers for several years, and understand their situation and the UK is similar to many firms here in the United States. One of the things then that you first have to do is, are the marketing their value consistently? Many times manufacturers will just sit on their value and they’ll sit on their product line and they’re really not educating and they’re really not teaching their distributors or helping their distributors to sell through the channels. They’re not educating the distributors about the value so that the distributors can focus on value rather than price. They’re not educating the end user at all about the value.

So, first you want to help them understand that as a marketing consultant, you could develop marketing communication that teaches and educates about the value they have. There’s a great book out there I’ll refer to you. It’s called, “How to Grow and Market Stones” by Richard Weiss Reece, and you want to maybe take a look at that. It was a great book that talked about innovative demand.

It may be that your manufacturer has to shift the way his buyers and distributors are looking at his product. Maybe he was selling them for some demand and price wasn’t an issue, but now that price is an issue, you have to maybe help that manufacturer create a new way to look at demand for his product. It’s called innovative demand and very insightful in helping these manufacturers in these times of price competition.

Of course, you want to then help them understand that as a consultant, you could take them through a marketing system that will do all of that and will accomplish those objectives.

Then, finally, it may be that he’s got shift markets. It may be that he has to do a little bit better on a target market, do a little bit better with fewer customers who care about his value and will give him the margins, and then simply try to sell more to that narrower customer basis.

Michael: Richard, who were your mentors other than Jay Abraham?

Richard: Jay, of course, is important to me, but there’s some great marketing authors out there – Jay Conrad Levinson and the Guerilla Marketing and the Guerilla Advertising series is really quite phenomenal. He’s done a great job in breaking many of these aspects of the marketing system that I’ve been using into some real direct application.

Another great author and mentor is Jack Trout. He’s got a great book out called, “Differentiate or Die: Survival in our Era of Killer Competition.” So, those are a couple of the other mentors that I’ve enjoyed reading over the years.

Michael: Here’s a question from Wayne in the United States:

“It’s natural for a business owner to be skeptical or indifferent when initially contacted. In the absence of a trusted referral, what is the most effective way to connect with an owner and capture his or her attention and interest during the initial contact?”

Richard: Good question Wayne because that means that you have to really do something in the first 60 seconds since you’ve got about a minute to two minutes to make an impression either positive or negative, and I have found that the best way to do that is when you have an appointment, you go in and you sit down, and the first thing you do is you say, “Mr. Prospect, tell me about your goals. What would you like to accomplish? What would you like to see happen to your business?”

If you’ll start with a focus on them, and not on you, you’ll go a long way to establish that trust that they want, and then after you give them time, and you give them attention, and you maybe say a couple of tings, but not a lot just listen. Listen to where they’re at, then they’ll be happy to listen to you. When you can then demonstrate that you can help them meet those goals or solve those problems, or end those frustrations, then you’re on the way to a relationship.

Michael: Here’s a question from John Liska.

“Richard, what would be your profile of the ideal prospect?”

Richard: John, I think the ideal prospect has to have a couple of things. They have to need. They have to want, and they have to be able to afford your service, and that’s why we do the opportunity analysis, and that’s because you want to determine if they need it and if they want it and if they can afford it.

So, throughout the presentation, you’re taught how to ask questions that determine those three qualifiers. If they’re growing and they’re growing as fast as they can grow and they have all of the business they can handle, and if you gave them any more business they couldn’t handle it, they don’t’ need it.

If he’s an owner who’s attitude is such that, “Oh, I could do this.” Or “I know what you’re saying, and I’ve done it before. I don’t need any help. I’ve got a marketing person. We’re all taken care of.” Then, he doesn’t want it.

Then, if he’s a business owner that’s saying, “Gee, I’d like to do this, but I’m barely making payroll, and I just don’t have cash flow.” Then, he probably right then can’t afford it.

So, those are the three areas that really help you determine if you’ve got a qualified prospect.

Michael: Dan Haley from the United States ask:

“Richard, I currently work full time for a big bank. I have a wife and two kids and I value my time with them. I’d love to get into the consulting business, but can’t make the break and start full time doing it. It is something I’m willing to do on a part time basis and hopefully build into a full time career. Along those lines, what is the best way to get started and would you even recommend going part time at first?” I’ve studied your stuff, Michael’s stuff, Jay Abraham, Dan Kennedy and countless others. So, I feel I have at least a working knowledge of marketing and consulting.”

Richard: Sure you can start part time, Dan. You can begin by just taking on one client, and that may mean that you meet with the client in the morning before you start work, or you meet him on your lunch hour or you meet him after work for an hour or two, and that’s plenty of time to take on one, maybe two clients. Many of your clients would be willing to do that.

I meet with clients on a Saturday. I meet with clients in the evening or early in the morning before their day begins, and before my day really gets started because that’s what’s best for the client. I think you would want to go ahead. You would want to go ahead and tackle one maybe two clients. Your bank could probably give you a list of businesses they wish they were doing. So, you probably have a list of prospects sitting right in your bank. You could start there, if they know what you’re doing, and they’re okay with that. But, if not, it’s easy to find one or two business that would be happy to work with you.

Michael: Richard, here’s a question from Ben Beasley from Birmingham, Alabama.

“Richard, how do you feel about giving away a free CD that introduces you and your marketing system and requiring them to listen to it before they meet?”

Richard: I have tried both Ben. You’ll just want to test both approaches. There’s some pros and cons with both approaches. They usually don’t take the time to listen to the CD. Sometimes they’re not motivated to unless you’re there. So, you might even try sitting down and listening to it with them. Then, I would try the personal face to face without it as well because that’s when you’re going to find out if they are a qualified prospect.

You could be handing out CD to unqualified prospects. You could be handing them out to people that don’t need, don’t want, can’t afford your service. So, they’re not going to listen to it, and you’re going to waste your time and you’re going to waste their time.

Sitting down with them, what you might do then would be to ask enough question sand then leave the CD. Once you determine that they’re qualified, they’re interested, that they can probably afford it, then ask them to listen to it, and then set an appointment when you’ll come back and review it. That’s what we’ve done in the HMA system to accomplish that and limit your costs in doing that is we’ve got a presentation that you can put on CD and use it that way. We’ve also got that same presentation and others more in depth that’s online as to where you can send the prospect to the site, and watch and listen to it with him or sent him there, and it wouldn’t cost you anything.

So, we’ve got the tools in the system that would make it very easy for you to accomplish that.

Michael: Here’s a question from Mark Waitley in Nottingham, England.

“Richard, if you had a contract in place with a client, and you’re operating on a share of the profits or a percentage of sales, i.e.; contingency only, the advice is good, but the fail to implement or they implement poorly, what can you do about it? The problem is a question of payment and managing the relationship. Let me give you a specific example. I explained how to get referrals to my client from their existing clients. A manual was produced giving them step by step instructions and I role played it with the staff. They did not get any referrals. I asked if they could tape the calls to their clients. They didn’t, and when I went to do a post mortem, I found that they were not following the scripts or instructions. So, I’ve done the work, but they failed and I didn’t get paid.”

Richard: Well, Mark that’s a classic reason that I recommend not taking on a contingency client until you’ve implemented some of the steps of the marketing system and they’ve paid for it. That is the best way to build a trust relationship with the client so that a contingency works.

So, in this situation that you’ve just illustrated, I would’ve had your referral system as part of step number four or step number three in the HMA system that they would’ve paid me for. And, we would’ve implemented that referral program.

Many times, the reason they won’t pay you and they can’t pay is that their execution is poor, just like you found out in that case. That’s why if you do the execution and you’re there to make sure it’s done right, and they pay you do that, all of a sudden now, the system starts to work and then what I would do is say, “Well, I’d love to help you keep this system going. What if we just did it on a contingency basis?”

Now, you’ve got some trust built-up. You’ve worked with the client over a period of a few weeks or a few months, implementing the system. They like you. They know you. You like them. You know them. You know they’ll pay you, and you’ve been paid. So, now you’ve got a basis for what your contingency can do.

Michael: Here’s a question from Nick Harrison of Aulten, England.

“What process do you follow prior to making a recommendation to a client? For example, say you have a client who’s industry has been adversely affected by regulatory overkill which has impacted profits severely. How would you evaluate and mind map the alternative options?”

Richard: Nick, that’s why we have in the HMA System this opportunity analysis because it’s the questions in that analysis that help you determine if you have a viable prospect. So, in this case, after doing that analysis, it may be that the regulatory overkill is just too much and you can’t move forward. And, it’s something out of your control.

At the same time, the opportunity analysis may show you that you can take him down some alternative markets, some alternative directions that don’t have those controls, or have less of those controls. What you need to be careful of if you start working with a client and you start getting them step number one which is the Unique Selling Proposition, and then those regulatory controls begin to kill that uniqueness, begin to wound it so that he can’t market and be revenue generator, then you’ve done a disservice to the client.

Michael: Here’s a question from Ulrich in Berlin, Germany.

“Richard is there a win-win way to get the clients into a situation that they are willing to make the system a repeating one so that it will return residual income?”

Richard: Oh, that is a great question, Ulrich, and that is your call as a consultant. You have the freedom to stay with a client as long as you want, and in my career I have had a few clients and I have one now that I have been with for three years generating me residual income because we keep working the system. I keep tweaking him a little bit, and I don’t spend a whole lot of time with him.

I know that there are other consultants that like to go in and stay with a client for many years, and that’s certainly a possibility with the HMA system. It’s your call. It’s all in how you want to set up your consulting career. I enjoy having impact and moving on to another opportunity because it keeps me fresh. It keeps me excited. It keeps me going. I’ve had a couple of instances where I’ve been with a client a couple of years, and three years with one and sometimes it gets old. It gets kind of stale and you’re ready to move on. But, maybe you might want to stay with one for a long time.

So, the system is set up to where you can make the call.

Michael: Here’s a question from Phillip Phong of Adelaide South Australia.

“Richard, what’s the number one expectation your customers have when they employ you as a marketing consultant?”

Richard: Well, the number one expectation is that you’ll get the job done. Your client has probably been familiar with and probably, maybe even studied the contents of marketing such that he knows probably what he should be doing. And, so you coming in to say, “Well, you should be doing this and should be doing this.” It’s not their expectation anymore. It’s evolved to where the expectation is, “Okay, Mr. Consultant, you’ve told me what I need to do. How are you going to get it done?” So, that’s the number one expectation is they want you to execute. They want you to get results.

Michael: Here’s a question from Michael Amobo of Port Harcourt Nigeria.

“Richard, your marketing techniques seemed based on sound management information systems. In a third world country like Nigeria, where I live, where most businesses don’t have any system of keeping or storing information, where can one start from building this info store because it seems like without it, your marketing system can’t really take off? Even the eMyth depends on information research storage and communication.”

Richard: Michael, a great question. So, you have to adapt to your client’s situation, and if that’s the case in Nigeria and you want to go ahead and adapt to that situation, I’ve had clients that have stayed on paper for decades.

The HMA System can operate still on paper. Yes, it would be preferred and certainly be much more effective if it was all computerized and managed information, but if that’s not available in Nigeria, than your best thing to do is to accommodate the client and that is make it work on paper. I’m assuming in this case that we have at least that available to us, and they can keep those kinds of records.

Michael: Here’s a question from Pete Bass, Evanston, Wyoming.

“Richard, there is a new web conferencing product that I’m an affiliate for. My question is what would be the best way to market this tool. I’m completely new to all this, and would there be a good way to tie this into marketing consulting?”

Richard: Pete, there are some consultants who have taken the HMA System and gone to the Internet with it. The same steps of the system apply online or offline. So, if you’ve got an online product, in this case a web conferencing product, then you’ll want to do the same thing, and you could become a marketing consultant on the web, an Internet consultant that’s using the steps of the HMA System all on the web.

So, in this case with your product in web conferencing you need a good Unique Selling Proposition because there’s other conferencing products out there. So, it has to be set apart and it has to be very unique. So, you need to do that. You could then begin to market that to clients on the web. In fact, I’ve got a client that uses the web conferencing product and he sends out emails and emails and invites these clients to participate in a web conference with him.

So, you can be doing direct marketing with emails. You can have a client that has clients that he needs to do a seminar for, and you can help with our PowerPoint presentation, and using that with his clients and do it all on the web. So, we’ve got tools in the HMA System that would certainly apply right over to you web conferencing opportunity.

Michael: Richard, here’s a question from Abraham from Pakistan.

“Richard, what’s a strategic insight that top marketing gurus miss?

Richard: I think the biggest insight that top gurus miss is execution. I think most gurus are so caught up in insights of themselves and insights of their abilities or insights of technology perhaps or insights of the latest innovation and they can go ahead and word package a lot of that, but I think the strategic insight that they miss is how to follow through an execute, Abraham.

That is why the HMA System is growing so rapidly is because it’s the first marketing system that solves that strategic insight. It’s the first marketing system out there that has taken all of this latest and newest and all of the content of marketing and put it into successful execution for the consultant and for your client.

Michael: Here’s a question from Oliver from Deutschland.

“Richard, how do you convince potential clients that you can do what you can do?”

Richard: Oliver, the best way to convince potential clients that you can get the job done is by going in and doing the opportunity analysis, and listening to them and really hearing what they’re wanting to accomplish. I’ve found that most of the time you can’t convince somebody is when you talk too much about yourself. So, if you’ll use our analysis which focuses everything on them, the analysis will help you show them how you solve their problem, and because your then able to show them how you solved their problem, they’re convinced. And, that’s why it works.

Michael: Here’s a question from Marcus from Carterville, Georgia.

“Richard, what’s the difference between marketing and advertising or is it all the same?”

Richard: Marcus, advertising falls under the marketing umbrella. So, marketing has to make certain that advertising works. Advertising is only one step of marketing.

Michael: Here’s a question from J.F.

“Hello, Richard, what do you do if you’re tried direct mail and telemarketing, but you still can’t clients because people won’t believe the things that you can do for them?”

Richard: Well, if people don’t believe the things that you can do for them, then something’s wrong in the presentation. That’s where you’d want to take a look at what’s happening is your direct mail and your telemarketing is hopefully getting you appointments. Now, if you’re trying to sell your service through direct mail and telemarketing, I think that’s a mistake because it’s hard for them to believe something that just comes to them in the mail or is over the phone.

So, I think if that’s been your objective, you may want to change that and make it an objective to get an appointment so that you can determine if they’re a qualified prospect or not. If you go through your opportunity analysis, and they don’t believe that you can do what you can do, then there’s something that’s going wrong in the presentation.

Michael: Here’s a question from Norman Conrad of the United States.

“Keeping in touch with customers and qualified prospects is usually a hit or miss activity with many small business. Richard, do you know of any programs available or companies specializing in periodically mailing a personalized four color postcard anywhere from 500 to 1,000 cards per month using the variable data supplied by the client?”

Richard: Absolutely, there are companies like that probably in your local area. I have a company that’s called Sensations here in my area that does exactly that. We can give them a database and they’ll send these postcards that are four colored post card on any interval basis that we might ask them to do it.

So, these types of services are springing up everywhere around the country, and there’s probably one in your local area. You have to kind of go look for them.

Norman, we’ve also learn in the HMA System that the United States Post Office has invested to allow you to do all of that online. So, you can get online from your own computer at home and you can send postcards, you can send envelopes, you can send other types of mailing materials right through the United States Post Office and do it all online. So, you can do it from home or you can outsource the task with a local printer in your area.

Michael: Okay, here’s a question from Jimmy Davis of Henderson, Texas.

“First, let me congratulate both Michael and Richard. What a site. The information that Richard shares is absolutely fantastic. Anyone, and I mean anyone, who needs to know marketing and our business consulting, needs to visit Michael’s Hard to Find Seminars site. I haven’t left since I accidentally stumbled upon it on a search engine a couple of months ago. The old saying, ‘When the student is ready, the teacher will appear’ worked for me. Both of you are very dynamic, down to earth, and easy to relate to. Okay, Richard, this is going to be hard for an old pro like you, but I have thought it over and there is something that I need to know. I want to know one or two things that I can do entering a business to interview the owner of that business on consulting that I can do that will assure me that I’m going to close the deal. If I can help before I write the first word or give him my ‘what I’m here for’ speech, there are certain things you feel about each person you approach, and I know each one is different, but how do I size them up and put them at ease? Go through that for me. I want to make filling out the paperwork a foregone conclusion. I want to impress him or here from the very first moment we lay eye on each other. Thanks Richard, Jim Davis.”

Richard: Well, Jim, first thanks for your kind comments, and to answer your question now it starts of course in the first 120 seconds, first minute that you meet your prospect across his desk and you shake his hand to make it a foregone conclusion then. Once you sit down, you need to determine if he or she is a qualified prospect.

Most sales don’t close because the sales person or in this case you the consultant are talking with an unqualified prospect. So, in sizing them up, in looking at them face to face, I first have to find out is he a qualified prospect for my service? And, that is where the HMA System comes in because we have the questions all laid out for you to ask that will determine if they’re qualified prospects.

In summary, it means that do they want you? Do they need you? And, can they afford you? So, you want to try to find out those three things right away. If the answer is no to any one of those three things, the paperwork is not a foregone conclusion. If the answer is yes to all three of those things, then you’ve gotten permission to move forward into the opportunity analysis and the paperwork becomes more of a foregone conclusion.

Michael: Here’s a question from Wilfred Tanner of Los Angeles, California.

“Richard, how can I grow my business if I’m just starting out and only have a handful of customers? How do I make use of my small customer base without feeling like I’m putting the pressure of business success in any of my communications with them?”

Richard: Wilfred, that’s a common concern that consultants have, and there’s two ways to address it. One is to be honest with your small group of customers and just say, “Listen, I just have a few customers, and I would really like to do some work for them, but I don’t want to make you feel pressured in working with me, but let me just ell you some of my ideas, and I think you’ll be excited about maybe working with me.” So, being straight and forward with them is a good approach. The other is just don’t rely on a few. Go out and start doing your marketing, and the HMA System will show you a lot of ways to generate more clients.

You want to have a handful of prospects all the time that are in your prospect file so that you don’t get burdened by having just a few. There’s nothing more painful than your feeling when you have just a few clients. So, you want to get and do some referrals from those clients. You want to see if any of them have businesses as customers and they could have you do a workshop for their customers. So, you want to kind of use the HMA System. We’ve got a whole section of it devoted to how to grow and build your practice.

Michael: Okay, here’s a question from Indigo Wings of Masala, Japan.

“Richard, how would you suggest a small, but professional offline business begin to incorporate online marketing without high costs and hours spent wading through hype.”

Richard: Indigo, that’s a great question, and a lot of consultants are asking that, and businesses are asking that. In the HMA system, we teach that everything done offline marketing wise can be done online. So, it just depends on the situation of your client. It might need to be that he just needs a little website and it’s a static website filled with information, and that’s all that he requires. A lot of people have thought that the website is going to answer all of their marketing problems, and it’s not. It’s just another tool that could be used to deliver services and products just like advertising and offline marketing does.

So, in the HMA System, we tell you to go to Elance if you’re not an expert, you can go to Elance and find experts that are willing to do projects that you can outsource them to. So, you can find web designers and you can find e-commerce specialists.

When you begin to determine if the clients is an ecommerce client meaning that it’s more than a website, that it’s now actually selling product on the web, the internet, now you’re getting into an area where expertise is needed because there’s marketing that needs to go on for search engine optimization. There’s marketing that needs to go on for pay-per-click a type of marketing. Those two things require investment. So, just like an offline marketing system that requires a couple of thousand, several thousand dollars a month to invest in advertising or to invest in database or to invest in alliances or community marketing or direct marketing, so it is on the web.

If you’ve got a client that can sell products over the web, he’s going to have to invest some serious dollars on a regular monthly basis on the web to maximize success for him.

Michael: Here’s a question from Gary Jansen of Australia.

“Richard, how can I market my business for no or very little money?”

Richard: Gary, I’m assuming it’s a marketing consulting business. If that’s not the case, these ideas will probably still apply, but the best way to market your small business without any money is finding alliances and partnerships. These might be with people that you already have as customers and they can set you up with their customers. There’s an alliance that can endorse you. So, you want to find alliances and partnerships that can lead you to customers that you want and use and leverage that relationship. That’s the best way to do it without any money.

Michael: Okay, here’s a question from Jim of Bettanfort, Iowa.

“Richard, do you think that there is a modest fortune to be made by taking over the marketing function of very small companies by beginning with the idea that you’re only initially helping them with some modest advertising and or publicity short term projects. If so, what guidelines could you provide for making the transition from being a short term outside helper to becoming a formal or informal member of the business?”

Richard: Jim, that’s an exciting concept to think about, and as a matter of fact, I’ve had a few clients that I’ve thought those very things about, and one that I’m kind of working with now in that the opportunity is so great. They’ve got a lot of marketing assets that you’ve identified and they could grow significantly, but they’re just not handling the marketing function really well.

It’s also a strategic decision that you have to kind of making as a consultant. Personally, I shy away from becoming a marketing fulfillment house. So, I stay on the front end, strategic execution of the HMA System. If I see that there’s opportunities for more fulfillment, I’ll outsource that with someone or a partner of some kind. However, the transition would be that you’ve implemented the system, you’ve been paid a fee, and you know that it is going to work and that it is working. That would then be a prospect that you would want to get more involved with, if that’s your strategic decision to do that.

Michael: Okay, here’s a question from Bill McLean of Melbourne, Australia.

“Richard, when speaking with a new client after reviewing his marketing plans, you establish that the shortcoming is within his own negative self programming that continually sabotages his excellent plans with procrastination and poor decision making and prioritizing action plans. How do you tell an ego driven business owner that the problem is himself and shift him into a program that will change his perspective and approach with a results based plan and actionable steps?”

Richard: My first response is you probably can’t do it. In other words, he’s probably not a prospect and not worth the time and the energy to do that. The thing I have found that works the best is to say, “Thank you. Good luck to you. Maybe we’ll check back together in a year.” Then, hopefully during a year, his ego’s gotten him into enough trouble. He’s continuing to have bad results in his business. He’s continuing to get beat up by the marketplace. His competition is out-performing him. His customers are leaving him because of his ego, and he’s not paying attention to them. That’s something that I would rather recommend you leave to the marketplace to help fix rather than you try to because and you’re in another business. You’re in a positive mental attitude consulting business, and that’s what you want to be in.

I would rather and I would recommend that you just leave him alone and come back and revisit him after the marketplace because what you don’t want to do is have him pay you for trying to get some marketing in place when he’s got an anti-USP attitude, and that’s is it’s going to kill everything that you do. Then, you’ll have an unhappy client. He’ll probably want his money back, and it just gets into a bad relationship.

What we teach you in the HMA System is to go in and identify and pre-qualify someone like that because what you would probably find out then by doing that is that you don’t want to proceed working with him.

Michael: Okay, here’s a question from Jose Carlos, Mexico.

“Richard, do your strategies apply to businesses in Mexico?”

Richard: Absolutely applies in Mexico. The same issues are down there as anywhere across the world, and that is how does a business set itself apart to it’s particular marketplace and get customers to come and do business with it, remain loyal, buy more from it, and set up relationships with other businesses to build customers and to grow. So, whether that’s in the United States or Mexico, it’s the same.

Michael: Here’s a question from Zach Hunt of the United States.

“Richard, what are the best ways to position yourself as an expert in your field?”

Richard: Zach, the best to position yourself as an expert in the field, there’s three things. One is provide some expert communication, and maybe that’s workshop. Maybe it’s a free workshop, a free seminar, a free article that you write in the newspaper or a book that you might put together or some series of free reports that demonstrates your expertise and get it out there. Get it out there through some press releases. Get it out there some local business organization, and you will all of a sudden become positioned as an expert.

If you don’t want to do that, then you have to position yourself as an expert one on one in front of your prospect, and that’s what the HMA System does is it teaches you how to set yourself apart, how to position yourself as the expert because of the problems that you’re going to solve for the client.

Michael: Here’s a question from Graham Perry of Middleboro, United Kingdom.

“What are your views, Richard, on the all important subject of pricing? This is a crucial point to any business. Price too high and you’ll never sell anything because you’re pricing yourself out of the market, but on the other hand, if you aim too low, people will naturally think about the old saying that you only get what you pay for. Do you have any strategies or tips to get around this issue?”

Richard: Yes, Graham, the HMA System will teach you how to do that because in the system we teach you to look at each client individually, and the price that you want to set on each step of the marketing system depends on A – the value that you’ve been able to demonstrate for that client and B – the time and energy that you know it’s going to take you to accomplish. That’s why we ask you to price only by project and not by the hour or anything like that because that way you can demonstrate the value and his ability to pay becomes a critical issue.

So, in the opportunity analysis, we teach you how to determine the ability the client might have to pay and at what level they might be able to pay. I have clients that pay me more and I’m working less than I might with another client, but it’s because of the value that I’ve been able to demonstrate will come to them, and how much time it’s going to take me to do.

So, you get around by qualifying the prospect well, listening to what they can probably afford, and then you determine if you want to take the client on or not.

Michael: Here’s a question from Andrew out of Australia.

“Richard, what is the quickest way you know to get through to the decision maker and capture corporate clients?”

Richard: Well, first of all you have to determine who is your customer. The smaller a business is, say in sales from half a million to maybe five million, you’re going to be able to get through directly to the owner, and you’re going to be able to talk to the owner either through direct mail piece or through the phone. You’re going to be able to contact them.

If you start to choose to work with larger corporate clients, then you’re going to have to get in probably at the marketing level, establishing credibility perhaps with the person in charge of marketing already, and then have them introduce you to the corporate decision making or a division head. I’ve worked with a $370 million company, public company. I never met the CEO, and worked only with a division head. So, you’re not going to have a very easy time contacting directly the corporate. It’s going to have to be more through a network approach.

Michael: Here’s a question from Brett Curry from the United States.

“Richard, as a marketing consultant, how do you divide your time between prospecting for new clients and servicing existing clients?”

Richard: That’s the classic question for consulting, and I have to tell you that I just make sure that I allocate 25 percent of my week to prospecting or client generation. I’ve learned that I can not ever let that drop. If I do, then you run into the classic struggle of, “Oh, I’m done servicing. Now, I’m out of clients.” And, I will usually use the afternoon for prospecting or a luncheon seminar or a luncheon workshop of some kind, and servicing a lot more in the morning.

But, if you’ve got five days a week, 40 hours, than 8-10 hours of those need to be prospecting, client generation, and HMA System gives you plenty of ways to do that.

Michael: All right, here’s a question from Neal Phillips of Cardiff in the United Kingdom.

“Richard, what plans, policies, procedures do you find the most effective to get the clients that you take on to implement the strategies that you provide them with, and what percentage do you find that actually implement the ideas that you give them? And, if they don’t implement them, how does that affect your back end?”

Richard: Well, Neal, that’s where the HMA System is different from other consulting systems. That’s why it works with clients is that you are trained as the implementer. You’re the one that’s going to charge a fee significant enough to see that you direct the implementation. Most other consulting approaches are exactly what you described. “Well, here’s what you need to do, Mr. Client, good luck and I hope it works.” And, then it doesn’t work, and you’re back-end dies.

So, the HMA System is unique in the marketplace because it’s putting you, the consultant, as the one in charge of implementation, and that’s what clients today want. They want and demand consultants that are executing and implementing, not just telling them what to do.

Michael: Here’s another question from Renee Valleys.

“Richard, what is the mindset or philosophy or approach you have that allows your business to thrive when other marketers struggle?”

Richard: Renee, the aspect of my business that allows it to thrive is its ability to break marketing down into bit by bit steps and pieces that are easy for you as a consultant to implement for the client. It’s this ability for the system to get things done for your client that makes it thrive, and that’s what causing it to be so exciting and welcomed out there in the consulting arena is it’s organization taking all of the marketing content that’s out there, organizing it into step by step execution so that you, the consultant, can get results for your client.

Michael: Here’s a question from Andrew Lee of San Francisco, California.

“Richard, from all your marketing expertise what is the one most significant marketing concept a businessman would need to master in order to sell his or her products or services?”

Richard: I’d say the number one marketing principle they have to do is communicate everything with passion. If he doesn’t have the integrity and belief behind what he’s doing with his business, his product, A – he probably won’t be doing much marketing so it will die, and B – the marketing that he does will not contain any passion and customers won’t feel it. They won’t feel why this guy is excited to sell them something, and if the customers don’t feel that passion through the marketing pieces that are going out, then they won’t sell at the highest level.

Michael: Here’s a question from my friend Kyle in San Diego.

Kyle wants to know, “Richard, if you’re limited to just three pillars to grow and sustain a service business, what would they be? And, how would those differ from a retail business? In other words, are there three fundamentals that nearly all businesses overlook that you bring to the forefront to create lasting streams of income for your client?”

Richard: Yes, the first four steps in the HMA System is what I would refer to as core modules. They have modules that every business out to have whether it’s retail, whether it’s service, whether it’s professional, whether it’s manufacturing. It doesn’t matter. They need to have number one a Unique Selling Proposition. Number two, they need to be implementing and integrating that Unique Selling Proposition into all of the current marketing and selling that they’re done. Number three, they need to have databases set up where they’re capturing prospects. They’re marketing to their current customers or clients, and they’re reactivating past customers and clients. Then, four, especially for a service business that’s probably different from retail is they want alliances, and they want partnerships. They want to set up relationships with complimentary services that can generate new prospects for them. A retail business is usually more built around advertising and point of purchase type of promotions.

So, those four are core steps for all businesses especially service businesses.

Michael: Okay, here’s a question from David Rose in San Diego.

“Richard, once you are established locally, how would you expand the market for your services? How would you expand your services globally?”

Richard: Well, David I think what the HMA System will allow you to do is create long distance clients. You can get a website that you create for yourself. You can market that website. The HMA System gives you products that you have the rights to, to resell. So, you can be in the consulting business and selling products on the web, and acquiring and servicing clients on a long distance basis.

Something that the HMA System is developing and we’re working on is a website product that you could sell where business owner goes through the seven steps with you as a coach, and they can answer the questions right on the web and email them back to you and so you could coach a client a long distance through all seven steps of the HMA System.

Michael: Here’s a question from Andy Fields of Santa Clara, California.

“Richard, regardless of copyright, trademark and other intellectual property notices, how can one develop a very marketable new concept or twist that everyone else on the Internet can’t copy cat particularly within nanoseconds?”

Richard: Andy, the way that you want to do that is individualize your product, interject you, your voice, your personality, your credibility, your background is the best way to avoid knock-offs, and nobody can become another Andy. So, you create the product or the service more around you, and you become involved.

The other thing is you create the product, and there might be plenty of knock-offs. For example, in the HMA System, there are other systems that have similar content, but what they don’t have until they purchase the systems is the steps of executing that content. So, those are hard to knock-off because if you’ve sold it, then you’ve at least been compensated for it, and then now you do run the risk of others taking that and doing something with it, but you’ve at least been compensated for it.

Michael: Here’s a question from Mark Martin of the United States.

“Richard, I have never had stellar success at being the owner of my own small business and I’ve had four. How could I go about promoting the HMA program with confidence that I’m going to be able to help someone else when I have not done it myself?”

Richard: Mark, your question represents probably the number one question that I get on a regular basis, and that is “How, Richard, can I go out and be successful with this system?” And, I’ll just have to answer that as simply as I can in that that’s why we created a system so that it could not rely on you. When you go down and sit in front of a prospect, you’re delivering a marketing system. You’re not delivering you. They really don’t care about you. They really don’t care what your background is.

Where consultants get killed and they lose their focus is when they go in and talk about themselves. That’s when the client begins to wonder who is and what’s he done, and does he have credibility is because you’re the one that’s bringing it up. You’re the one talking about yourself. He doesn’t want to know about you.

So, the genius in the HMA System is shifting the focus from you to the system, and there’s plenty of stories and plenty of credibility and plenty of success after 14 years in the marketplace that the systems delivered on. That’s what you’re selling. That’s what the client wants is he wants results, and once you’re trained in the system, you can deliver those results.

Mark, another thing that we’ve done in the HMA System to make it even easier is right in the opportunity analysis that you go through with the prospect. We’ve integrated stories and case studies. They’re already there in readable format that you can just go through and illustrate for your client, the success that the system has had with client. So, it just makes it even easier for you.

Michael: All right, here’s a question from Randy Cole of Portland Oregon.

“Richard, I’m a firm believer in giving to my clients when consulting with them about my services. Have you found lately that the quality of truly wanting to give to the client and see them prosper has come much more to the forefront in your business practices, and that is increased the quality and satisfaction of the transactions for both sides? I guess what I’m trying to ask, Richard, is does it seem like to you like quality, ethics and morality in doing business now a days has created a much better environment and thus better earnings for both sides because of the moral bar being raised as opposed to either “get rich quick at any cost” attitudes?”

Richard: Randy, I think you’re dead on in your perspective. I’ve seen it in my own consulting practice. I’ve seen some of my competitors who have tried to go in and they’ve tried to short cut the delivery, and that’s resulted in over time, clients getting unsatisfied and results not getting documents, and results not taking place.

The market is tired of that. The market is through with that kind of performance. They’re weeding those out more quickly than they have before. I’ve seen competition for my services get weeded out much more quickly than they used to because of not delivering on what they said the would deliver. That’s why I think the HMA is poised to just fill a great void, and the void that’s been left by deliveries that have not taken place, and that have not done what they said they would do.

So, the HMA System is all built around results. It’s all built around integrity. It’s all built around the consultant saying, “I will do this and we will get this done and this is how I am going to do it.” And, because results take place, the fees go up. The value goes up. Prosperity for the client goes up, and when prosperity for the client goes up, then you’re welcomed to more prosperity as the consultant.

Michael: “Richard, here’s my question, because certain words and how you say them can make all the difference, what wording can we use during the first phone call with a potential prospect to really nail down whether they are truly a prospect or not while getting them interested and motivated to take the next step forward with a face to face meeting or a longer phone interview. Thanks, Vince Carnigan.”

Richard: Well, Vince, we’ve got the phone approaches that are documented in the HMA System and we’ve been using them for 14 to 15 years in the process of acquiring new prospects. Vince, here’s an example of what we’ve been saying, “Hello, is Mr. Brown in? Mr. Brown, this is Richard. We have a marketing approach to grow your business 25 to 100 percent or more without spending more money on advertising. Could we take 15 minutes to tell you a little bit more about it? Is that something you’d be interested in?” It’s very short. It’s to the point. It’s a hook, and the purpose of the hook is to buy 15-20 more minutes.

So, then you go in for a face to face 15 minutes, and it’s in that 15 minutes that we’re going to take you through some more qualifying questions. You’ve got to find out if the guy has interest. You have to find out if he has a need. You’ve got to find out if he can afford you. Then, we’re going to go into the opportunity analysis. So, all of that wording, and all of that scripting has been packaged and put together in the HMA System for you.

Michael: Here’s a question from Reswan.

“Richard, suppose you are not a marketing person, but an accountant with no formal credentials or experience in marketing. How do you convince your first consulting client that he should try out your services?”

Richard: Reswan, we’ve taken care of that. Your question is probably one of the more frequently asked questions and that is, “If I don’t feel real confident in a marketing background, how do I convince my client to give me a try?” So, we’ve solved the problem in two ways.

One is we’ve given you and delivered to you a marketing system that if you will go through and be trained in, you can deliver the words and deliver the need and the results that your client is interested in that will convince them to go ahead and give you a try.

What I would do and what I did early on is I knew that I might have lacked some credibility, and so I took on a client or two without any fees. And, I just worked the system and got results. Then, I started getting more confident and charging the fees. So, if you want to start out that way, that’s fine. I don’t think you need to.

One of the things that we’ve tried to do in the system is you’ve got 15 years of credibility. You can start charging fees right away. But, if you’ve got some income from some other sources for a little while, then do a couple of steps of the system with no charge.

Michael: Okay, Richard, here’s my final question. It’s from Ken Ellsworth of Vancouver.

“What’s the difference and why are you any better than the other marketing consultants in training out there such as Y2 Marketing, Jay Abraham, Top Line, Quantum and any of the others?”

Richard: Ken, the difference in the HMA System from any of the others out there is its ability to get things done for the client. I have studied these others. I know my competition, and I know what they’ve delivered, and I can give you an example. Jay Abraham has delivered. Jay has gotten results. He’s a multi-millionaire. However, what he didn’t do is break it down for someone like you and me into a system of execution. He knew how to execute, but he hadn’t been able to teach it or break it down into others like we’ve done, and that’s the key difference.

Now, some of the other competitors, they’re very, very good at their content, but so is the HMA. So, the HMA content is the same or better than anyone else, but what the HMA System has done is break it down into an organized, step by step systematic plan for execution so that you as a consultant can learn it and be taught it and the client can get the results that he wants.

Many of the competition, they’ll spout off what they’ll do, but then the results don’t take place. So, we’ve just been creating results for 15 years, and that’s a pretty good differentiation.

We’ve covered a lot of questions in this recording. I hope it’s been beneficial for you. If you’d like any additional information on how to get going as an HMA marketing consultant, please call me at 858-274-7851 or e-mail me. I look forward to speaking with you.